On April 16, Shen and Huan Hu made an appointment to attack the east and west ends of Pingyu County at the same time. However, on the day of the siege, they were supposed to assist Huan Hu in attacking the east wall of Pingyu County. Chen Shou arrived at Shen's army, which was mainly attacking the west. This made Shen, who had seen through Chen Shou's intentions, feel helpless.
"You just can't trust me?"
Shen smiled bitterly and said to Chen Shou.
Chen Shou was silent after hearing this. After a long time, he explained: "Huan Hu's side is just a feint attack. I came to the west of the city just to see if there is anywhere I can help..."
In fact, even Chen Shou himself didn't believe this explanation.
In fact, it was not that Chen Shouxin did not trust Shen, but that he knew that Shen, or the generals of the Shangshui line, had a good relationship with Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu in the past, and was afraid that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu would be protected by Shen after his surrender.
In this way, Chen Shou lost the opportunity to take revenge on Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
That's why he came to Shen's army, in the name of assisting Shen, but in fact it was to complete his revenge plan and prevent Shen from ruining his good deeds.
After all, facing Shen, Chen Shou was still a little short of breath. After all, he still owed the former his life. If Shen insisted on protecting Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, Chen Shou could only agree even if he was dissatisfied.
However, the facts proved that Shen had misjudged Shen and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
After three bugles representing the attack sounded, the soldiers of the Shangshui Army launched an offensive against Pingyu County.
At this time, the Shang Shui Army under Shen's command was actually an incomplete Shang Shui Army. After all, senior generals such as Wu Ji, Chen Xie, Xu Jiong, etc., as well as several elite troops led by Xiang Li, Ran Teng, Zhang Ming, etc. The brave generals of the human army are currently in Dangyang area of Xiying County, Chu State. In order to ambush Chu Shuijun that day, the Shang Shui Army dispatched its most elite soldiers.
But even so, Shen still has many good generals under his command.
For example, Gu Tao, who is good at commanding catapults, Lu Zhan, who once stationed troops at Tianmen Pass, and the newly promoted general Cen Bao, etc., are not short of generals.
However, in view of the fact that Xiang Li, Ran Teng, Zhang Ming and other three Xiao generals, known as the sharp spears of the Shang Shui Army, followed Wu Ji to conquer Xiying County, and the offensive power of Shen's Shang Shui Army was slightly insufficient, this was It is an indisputable fact.
Under this situation, Shen could only hope that Lu Zhan, who was transferred back to the Shangshui Army, and the newly promoted general Cen Bao would achieve excellent results.
"Bang"
"Bang bang"
The ballista unit commanded by Wei general Gu Tao has launched a bombardment on the city wall of Pingyu County.
I saw dozens of ballistas firing together, and the momentum was so shocking that even Chen Shou couldn't help but take a second look and asked curiously: "What is that?"
"Ballista." Shen explained with a chuckle: "This is a new siege weapon developed by the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau a few years ago. It is said that King Yan (Zhao Jiang) conquered Qi thanks to this weapon... Of course, this is a ballista weapon." An argument for creating a situation.”
Chen Shou nodded. Although he did not believe that this kind of dead thing would be the main contributor to the defeat of Qi, he must admit that this kind of siege weapon was indeed very powerful. No, even from a long distance, he could You can clearly feel the panic and fear of the Chu army generals on the Pingyu City Wall when they were hit by such weapons.
"boom!"
Another stone bullet hit the city wall heavily, making the soldiers on the wall of Pingyu County feel as if the earth was shaking.
"Don't panic!"
On the city gate tower, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu shouted loudly, trying his best to comfort his soldiers.
As the Chu general who knew Wei best, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu certainly knew that Wei had a new type of siege weapon called a ballista. Even though he had a lot of connections in Wei, he couldn't get his hands on this weapon.
But this does not mean that Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu has no countermeasures.
He immediately ordered: "Ask the trebuchets in the city to counterattack the Wei army's crossbows immediately."
Under the order of Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, the Chu army generals in the city quickly controlled the trebuchets to launch a counterattack. Even the machine-operated crossbows placed on the city wall tried to destroy the Wei army's crossbows. .
But unfortunately, the hit rate of the trebuchet is really pitiful. As for the mechanism crossbow, because the mechanism crossbow placed on the wall of Pingyu County is only a second-generation or third-generation creation, it is not the best fourth-generation mechanism. The crossbow was continuously fired, so that it could not reach the ballista in terms of range, which made Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu very upset.
I don’t know if even God took pity on Pingyu County. A moment later, the trebuchets in the city accidentally hit the Shen Army’s ballistae three times in a row, causing four or five ballistae to be destroyed on the spot. Gu Tao, the general of Wei who commanded these ballistae, was jumping up and down.
"It seems that even if it is a ballista, it will be difficult to achieve results in a short period of time."
After watching for a while, Shen murmured, and immediately ordered the infantry to be put in, and ordered the infantry to push the siege vehicle forward, adopting a two-pronged strategy.
Cen Bao, a brave general of the Shang Shui Army, received the order and immediately led the infantry and pushed the siege vehicle forward.
Seeing this, the Chu army on Pingyu City immediately launched a counterattack with several arrows. However, given that the Shang Shui Army was well-equipped and had a good defense against flying arrow weapons, the casualties on the Shang Shui Army were minimal. However, as a result, the soldiers under Wei General Cen Bao's advance were greatly reduced. It took a lot of effort to push two siege vehicles and a dozen ladder chariots to the bottom of the city.
Siege vehicles, as the name suggests, are chariots that hit city gates. Once upon a time, they relied entirely on manpower. However, after improvements by the Smelting Bureau, the new siege vehicles adopted a noose design, which not only enhanced the power, but also greatly reduced the cost. The requirements for soldiers only require a few soldiers to turn the noose, and the mechanism design will allow the siege engines to hit the city gate again and again.
As for the ladder chariot, in fact, the key lies in a foldable long ladder. The so-called chariot is just its base. After improvements by the Smelting Bureau, this object can almost prevent enemy soldiers from overturning the ladder on the city wall. possibility, and the base and the body of the long ladder are all wrapped in iron sheets, so even if the fire strategy is adopted, it will be difficult to achieve any effect.
No, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, who originally planned to use fire attacks to counterattack, quickly learned this fact. It seemed that the ladder chariots were engulfed in flames, but they were still unable to completely destroy them. They could only temporarily stop Wei The soldiers climbed up the long ladder and attacked the city wall.
On the other hand, on the other side of the city gate, because Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu had already ordered people to dig up soil and block the city gate, the two new siege vehicles of the Wei army made no progress. Although they bombarded the city gate again and again, the momentum even reached the city wall. The Chu soldiers and generals above all felt it clearly, but there was no possibility of breaking through the city gate.
After a melee, the Wei army that took the first offensive retreated, and the Wei general Cen Bao who was in charge of the command also sent people to report to the commander Shen one by one what he learned. For example, the city gate of Pingyu County had already been occupied. It is sealed, so it cannot be broken through with siege vehicles, etc.
After receiving the message sent by Cen Bao, he remained silent.
He was not surprised that his Shang Shui Army had not achieved any results for the time being. After all, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu had already made sufficient preparations in order to defend Pingyu.
But Chen Shou, who was standing by, snorted coldly and said: "Struggle to the death."
But having said that, Chen Shou was happy in his heart. After all, the more Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu struggled to his death, the more chance he had to justifiably kill him on the battlefield and fulfill his vow to avenge his father Chen Bing.
In this way, under the "death struggle" of Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, Shen's Shangshui Army and Huan Hu's Suiyang Army failed to achieve any results on the first day.
The next day, Shen and Huan Hu stormed Pingyu County again. Unfortunately, the results were similar to the first day, and it was difficult to make any progress.
Then after the third day, the fourth day, and until the seventh day, even Shen did not expect that under the fierce attack of him and Huan Hu, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu could actually defend for seven days, and even even Even after seven full days, there were no signs of damage in Pingyu City.
"This is really..."
Shen was too surprised.
After all, in his impression, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's ability is more reflected in the aspects of interpersonal communication and governance of the city. As for this person's military talent, it is actually very average. In addition, Xiong Hu is greedy for life and cherishes his life. To be honest, it is not Not suitable as a general commanding troops.
Unexpectedly, these guys could hold off the Shang Shui Army and the Suiyang Army, two elite units of the Wei State, for seven days.
It is worth mentioning that during these seven days, even though Chen Shou, who was eager for revenge, went into battle in person, he was forced back several times by the Chu army in Pingyu City with arrows. This made Chen Shou slightly change his view of Xiong Hu. All along, Chen Shou thought that Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu was just a straw bag. He never expected that once he got serious, he would be so difficult to deal with.
However, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's luck seemed to have ended on the eighth day.
On the eighth day of the attack on Pingyu County, the ballista unit commanded by Wei general Gu Tao finally destroyed one side of the city wall at the northwest end of Pingyu County one hour before dusk, causing a burst of cheers from the Wei soldiers.
Even Chen Shou had a smile on his face.
In his opinion, as long as there is a gap like the collapsed city wall, he will go into battle in person tomorrow and he will be able to break into the city and behead Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu.
Not only Chen Shou thought so, but even Shen also felt that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu could defend the city for seven days under the siege of Shangshui and Suiyang armies. This is already a very remarkable thing. Even if the Wei army was in the eighth The city was captured in Japan, and Xiong Hu was worthy of his status as the king of the state of Chu.
However, just when Shen and Chen Shou were preparing to storm Pingyu County the next day and capture the city in one go, in the evening of that day, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu sent a letter of surrender.
In this letter, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu stated that he had defended the city for seven days and had exhausted all his strategies. He was worthy of the Chu State and Chu King Xiong Tuo. Next, he had to consider his own family. Therefore, he hoped that Shen Give him a few days so that he can appease the soldiers and people in the city and surrender the city.
Seeing this letter, Shen Duan burst out laughing.
A few days ago, he saw Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu clinging to Pingyu County. He thought that Xiong Hu had the consciousness to sacrifice his life for Chu State, but he did not expect that Xiong Hu was still the same Xiong Hu.
However, Shen was a little embarrassed about Xiong Hu's surrender. After thinking for a moment, he sent someone to summon Chen Shou and handed Xiong Hu's letter of surrender to Chen Shou.
After reading Xiong Hu's letter, Chen Shou flushed angrily and cursed angrily: "Shameless!"
There are two reasons for his anger: first, once Xiong Hu surrenders to the Wei army, he will not be able to kill Xiong Hu to avenge his father.
If he were in other people's army, Chen Shou might insist on killing Xiong Hu regardless of the obstruction, but in front of Shen, he couldn't do it. After all, he still owed Shen a life.
As for the second reason, it seems that Xiong Hu's words in the letter begging for surrender made Chen Shou feel "shameless".
"Crack!"
He slapped the letter on the table and walked away.
Seeing Chen Shou walk away, Shen Yi felt a little embarrassed.
Publicly and privately, Shen was inclined to accept the surrender of Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu. After all, once Xiong Hu surrendered, his Wei army would be able to capture Pingyu without any effort, and at the same time, Xiong Hu's life could be saved.
He knew that Mi Jiang, the queen of the Wei Kingdom, was temporarily living in the Shangjun's mansion in Shangshui County, which was the Prince Su's mansion built for Zhao Run by the Chu clan in Shangshui County. Although the queen did not send anyone Let Shen spare Xiong Hu's life, but she will temporarily live in Shangshui County. This is already a very obvious hint.
Coupled with Shen's own friendship with Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, it is undeniable that he also desperately hopes that Xiong Hu surrenders.
But it was hard for him to tell Chen Shou Ming these things, after all, his friendship with Chen Shou was not shallow.
After much deliberation, he could only persuade Chen Shou to save Xiong Hu's life as much as possible. As for how Chen Shou would target Xiong Hu in the future, as they were both ministers of the Wei Kingdom, Shen could not take care of it. In short, his purpose was to protect Xiong Hu. A small life.
In view of Shen's repeated persuasion, although Chen Shou was unwilling to accept it, he could only accept it.
After all, he finally dared to admit that he was the son of Chen Bing, the heroic county magistrate of Zhaoling. He did not want to be labeled as a traitor by the Wei State again and his father would be humiliated under Jiuquan.
However, whether it was Shen, Chen Shou, or Huan Hu, they never imagined that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu was more 'shameless' than they imagined, and his so-called surrender was just a pretext. It took a few days to appease the soldiers and civilians in the city, but in fact, Xiong Hu took advantage of these days to repair the collapsed city wall.
He had no intention of surrendering to the Wei army!
On April 27, seeing that Xiong Hu, Lord of Pingyu, had not surrendered for a long time, Shen sent a scout to Pingyu County to investigate.
After the scout came back, he told Shen that Xiong Hu had demolished the houses in the city, piled mud and rocks, and repaired the collapsed city wall.
"What?"
After hearing this, Shen was shocked and immediately took Chen Shou, Lu Zhan and other generals with thousands of soldiers to Pingyu County to observe the city up close.
Sure enough, as the scouts said, the gap in the city wall that was destroyed by the Wei army's ballistae a few days ago had already been blocked.
I was actually deceived by that fellow Xiong Hu?
Shen simply couldn't accept it, so he personally stepped forward and shouted to the city gate tower, asking Xiong Hu to come forward and explain in person.
Knowing that Shen asked him to come forward to explain, Xiong Hu came to the city gate and laughed loudly: "Surrender? Haha! I, Xiong Hu, will never surrender to Wei in my life!"
"You, you dare to stand up to me?" Shen was so angry.
He cursed in his heart: You ungrateful guy, don't you know that I want to save your life?
"Hahahaha." Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu said with a smile on the tower: "Shen, even you didn't expect me to have such a trick, right?" After that, he stopped laughing, looked at Shen Zhengse and said: "In the past, I, Xiong Hu, was greedy for life and cherished my life, but this time, I, Xiong Hu, am determined to live and die with this city. If the city is alive and the people are alive, the city will be destroyed and people will die!... Let's fight again, Shen!"
…
Listening to Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's decisive words, Shen opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
He was a little annoyed by Xiong Hu's "ignorance", but at the same time he also realized that his judgment had been wrong: the Xiong Hu he saw at this moment was no longer the Xiong Hu who was greedy for life, but a person worthy of letting go. respected enemy.
I underestimated you, Xiong Hu...
After sighing with emotion, Shen turned his head and glanced at Chen Shou, then turned and left without saying a word.
Chen Shou naturally understood the meaning of Shen's look. It was simply that the latter showed that he would no longer interfere with his grudges with Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu. This was naturally a good thing for Chen Shou.
Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu... doesn't he turn out to be a cowardly and incompetent person?
After taking a deep look at the city gate tower in Pingyu County, Chen Shou slightly changed his mind about Xiong Hu.
The reason why he hates Xiong Hu deeply is that he feels that heroes like his father (Chen Bing) are not worthy of dying because of greedy and incompetent guys like Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu. But now it seems that this Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu Hu, maybe there is something to be said for it.
Of course, although his view of Huan Hu has changed slightly, this does not prevent Chen Shou from killing Xiong Hu to avenge his father and put an end to the revenge that lasted for more than 20 years.
On April 28, the Wei army generals who were deceived by Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, together with Huan Hu's Suiyang army, launched a fierce attack on Pingyu County again.
After five days of fierce attack, the city wall of Pingyu County was once again destroyed by the Wei army's crossbow cannons.
This time, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu did not pretend to surrender to buy time. Thinking about it, he also understood that Shen, who had been fooled once, would definitely not be fooled a second time.
On April 29, the Wei army broke through the city wall. Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu knew that the situation was over, but he still refused to surrender to the Wei army. He led his soldiers who were willing to follow him and retreated to the streets of the city, trying to start a street battle with the Wei army.
"sucker Punch……"
After learning about Xiong Hu's response, Chen Shou snorted again.
But compared to the last time, his words were a little less sarcastic, but a little more respectful.
To everyone's surprise, the Wei army, which had always been good at street fighting, defeated the Chu army in the city, forcing Xiong Hu to retreat to his mansion.
Knowing that the situation was over, Xiong Hu called his eldest son Xiong and his two sons, and told him: "Pingyu can no longer be saved. Your brothers should take your mother and sister and go to Uncle Shen quickly... …In addition, your aunt is the queen of the Wei State and is currently in Shangshui. She can ensure that your brothers will serve as officials in the Wei State in the future."
Xiong was greatly surprised when he heard this and asked: "What about you, father?"
Xiong Hu was silent for a moment and said in a deep voice: "As a junior, you can do some things, but as a father you can't!... As a father, I have always kept the word loyalty on my lips all my life. Now, it's time to do it for me. It’s time for my father to be loyal and righteous!”
"Father..." Xiong and his two younger brothers looked at each other. A trace of determination flashed across the faces of the three of them, and they said in a deep voice: "Father, I am willing to follow my father and serve the great Chu!"
"Asshole!"
Xiong Hu slapped Xiong on the back, and then scolded his three sons: "Shu Zi, are you going to tell me, Ping Yu, the Xiong family to be cut off?... Go away quickly!"
Intimidated by their father's majesty, the three Xiong brothers did not dare to say anything anymore, so they packed up their bags overnight and went to the Wei army's commander-in-chief, Shen.
When he learned that Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's three sons had come to seek refuge with their families, Shen immediately called the three Xiongs to him and inquired about the situation.
Seeing this, Xiong told Shen what happened, and Shen was filled with emotion.
Xiong Hu asked his sons to surrender to the Wei army, which was not unexpected. However, people like Xiong Hu, who seemed to be greedy for life and cherished their lives, actually wanted to die for the Chu State, which shocked Shen even more.
How should I explain this to the queen...
Shen An smiled bitterly to himself.
Chen Shou was next to Shen that day, so he naturally heard Xiong's words and felt silent in his heart.
The next day, the Wei army stormed the residence of Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
Thinking about it, you know that even the city walls of Pingyu County couldn't stop the Wei army, so how could a mere mansion stop it? Within two hours or so, the Wei army broke through the front yard of the mansion, but Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, however, He still defended the inner courtyard with more than a hundred soldiers who were willing to die with him.
Looking at Xiong Hu from a distance, wearing armor and covered in blood, struggling to kill the enemy, Chen Shou didn't know why he didn't mean to step forward and kill the opponent himself.
...It's just that I don't want to take advantage of others.
Chen Shou secretly used Xiong Hu's injuries as an excuse.
"He...isn't willing to surrender?"
He asked Wei general Lu Zhandao not far away.
Lu Zhan shook his head, and immediately shouted to Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu again: "Xiong Hu, are you still unwilling to surrender even now?"
At this time, Xiong Hu was actually covered with wounds, but for some reason he was full of energy. Hearing this, he laughed loudly and said: "I, Xiong Hu, will not surrender to the Wei Kingdom even if I die!"
Seeing this, Lu Zhan nodded and was about to wave his hands to order his soldiers to continue attacking, but suddenly heard Xiong Hu shout: "Wait!"
To Lu Zhan's surprise, Xiong Hu still had no intention of surrender. He just saw Chen Shou, pointed at Chen Shou and shouted: "General Wei, do you dare to fight Xiong?"
"..."
Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Shou looked left and right. After looking for a long time, he realized that Xiong Hu was referring to himself.
"You? Want me to fight with you?" He asked with a strange expression: "Do you know who I am?"
"Hahaha." Xiong Hu laughed loudly and said, "You have assassinated Xiong two or three times. How can Xiong not know who you are? Come on!"
Did he deliberately give me a chance for revenge?
Chen Shou frowned, casually took a sword from the Wei soldiers beside him, walked up slowly, looked at Xiong Hu and said inexplicably: "You are no match for me."
"How do you know if you haven't fought before? Ah!"
Shouting, Xiong Hu waved the sharp sword in his hand and rushed towards Chen Shou.
However, Chen Shou just stepped aside and hooked Xiong Hu's right foot with his foot, causing the latter to fall to the ground due to inertia.
With your poor martial arts skills, how can you have the courage to fight me?
Glancing at Xiong Hu who fell to the ground, Chen Shou shook his head secretly.
It has to be said that the gap in martial arts between the two is so great that even if Chen Shou showed only two or three points of his skills, he could easily defeat Xiong Hu.
The level of ease even made Chen Shou feel that it was extremely stupid for him to regard Xiong Hu as his enemy.
However, Xiong Hu didn't seem to be discouraged. He struggled to get up again, looked at Chen Shou and laughed at himself: "I didn't expect the gap to be so big, but... try again!"
"..." After looking deeply at Xiong Hu for a while, Chen Shou was silent for a moment, and then a sentence burst out of his mouth as if with great difficulty: "That's it for now, Xiong Hu... surrender, I won't kill you. "
Xiong Hu was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed loudly and said: "As the enemy who killed your father, if I die in the hands of other Wei soldiers, won't you regret it for the rest of your life? What's more, I, Xiong Hu, have never thought of doing it intentionally. If you die in your hands, does your father die because of me? What does it have to do with me?... Come! Let Xiong Hu see your true strength!"
…
Chen Shou took a deep look at Xiong Hu, with a hint of respect in his eyes. He clenched the sword in his hand and assumed a posture to fight the enemy for the first time.
"As you wish!"
On April 29, the ninth year of Wei Zhaowu, Wei generals Shen, Huan Hu, and Chen Shou captured Pingyu County.
Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu of Chu, swore to the death not to surrender to Wei and died in a fierce battle.